Ray Ison, Professor in Systems at the UK Open University since 1994, is a member of the Applied Systems Thinking in Practice Group. From 2008-15 he also developed and ran the Systemic Governance Research Program at Monash University, Melbourne. In this blog he reflects on contemporary issues from a systemic perspective.

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

I like so many others have been incredibly saddened and disturbed by the outcomes of last week's vote. Amongst the many emotions, particularly those of loss, anger soon emerges at the intellectual vacuousness of those who have been placed into the roles of leading the country. What is more, few commentators see it is the systemic failure of the 'UK governance system', a failing that has been ongoing for many years...as this article from Philip Pullman illuminates.

A dear friend has articulated the grief many of us are experiencing in the following terms:

Dear X, thanks for your note! I hope you don't mind but I am so sore and
disturbed that I cannot help adding some comment on what's afoot.

A brief grieving:
How does a govt that got around 24 % of the vote in the last elections
now dare to act and speak in the name of the nation after leading it
into an unecessary referendum
to resolve an internal party struggle? ?

How is it that neither the left
nor the right of the political specturm understood the consequences of
the damage to [male, white] identity as secure employment in mining,
agric, ship building, steel etc. left the towns,
docks, and rural areas? How is it that the elderly, with dreams of
empire and former glory, can have such influence on the future of a
country? How do the nation's great and good get away with outrageous
lies without accountability?

How is it possible for
a nation to contemplate electing as the new PM someone who has no admin
ability, and who has lied time and again in his quest for power? [his
personality and abilities are well known on the continent and for sure,
tho some in the UK might think he can re-unify
the differences in the UK, he would not be seen as a responsible or
competent person to lead negotiations with the other 27 countries, thus
increasing the likelihood of worse coutcomes].

And whatever side of the
debates anyone stands on, it's simply terrifying
that there appears to have been so little preparation for, and
understanding of what the social, political, economic and constitutional
consequences of a referendum might be - utterly, utterly irresponsible.

The debates now seem focussed on matters internal
to the UK. In following these debates, I am also constantly struck by
how little understanding of or consideration anyone in Westminster or
the country at large - or the BBC - has given to how members of the
other 27 countries might actually perceive the issues,
and the consequences,or, come to that, how Commonwealth countries, the
US, Russia or China might view these events.

I live in the NL and I am
sure that the UK will not be able to get both
access to the single market and
control of free movement, nor access to the single market without
financial contributions, nor access and a rejection of the European
Court of Justice.
And [almost!] worst of all, as a resident of more than 15 yrs in the EU I
do not have the right of vote. This is in itself surely a scandalous
denial of basic rights to over 2 million Brits; there are now in effect
two classes of British citizenship. Democratic
provisions seem to have fallen down big time - bah! and boo!

Great article from Simon Caulkin. Here is a flavour:"Not a day passes without some fresh underlining of Baum’s message
(and it’s not just the US): fraud at FIFA, in athletics and in tennis;
Tesco exploiting suppliers; Sports Direct exploiting employees;
charities (for God’s sake) exploiting donors; yet more bank penalties
(up to a global $150bn since the financial crisis and counting); Libor
fallout; Kids’ Company; and VW.

There is, of course, a link between all these organisations. Their misfortunes were made by the people who work in them. They were manmade, or, to be clearer, management-made"

N.B. Mark Baum is the character based on a real-life investor, in The Big Short, the 2015 film adaptation of Michael Lewis’s unpicking of 2008’s global financial crisis. Baum is a capitalist investor, not a revolutionary.